Posted: Jan. 26, 2010

Greenfield — The moving boxes are unpacked at the new Greenfield School District administrative offices, but there are still some issues left behind at the old Chapman Avenue offices that need to be packed away.

For starters, the $6.1 million purchase agreement reached last January between the district and developer Continental Properties still needs to be finalized.

Some contingency dates have been pushed back to allow more time to address the issues, but the sale continues to move forward, Superintendent Conrad Farner said.

Most of the discussions regarding the sale have been held in closed-session meetings. Negotiations between Continental Properties, which also represents nearby Steinhafels, and neighboring property owners are ongoing.

"All parties are continuing to work toward finalization of the sale, but it is a complicated, time-consuming process," Farner said in an e-mail.

Sale vs. savings

Opponents of building the $1.8 million administration center at the high school argued the district should have waited until proceeds from the sale of the nine-acre Chapman property at 8500 W. Chapman Ave. were realized. That way, the district would be protected in case the agreement falls through.

But Farner said he still believes the decision was the right one. The construction company, C.G. Schmidt, estimated costs were cut by 10 percent by constructing the building while crews were already working at the high school, which was in the middle of extensive remodeling at the time, Farner said.

The district saved enough money so it didn't have to raise taxes or ask voters for more funds for the new building, he said, and also saved almost $250,000 on payments thanks to interest-free and low-interest loans provided by federal stimulus programs.

What will be built on the Chapman site is still unknown and subject to city approval. The city would like to see it redeveloped -a long process that gets even longer during bad economic times, Mayor Michael Neitzke said.

Fielding other issues

Any new construction means the Greenfield Little League would likely lose the two baseball fields they have used since the early 1980s.

The fields were originally constructed when the building was an elementary school. The Little League asked the School Board to consider new baseball fields on land at the Greenfield Middle School, 3200 W. Barnard Ave., but it would need financial help to make that possible.

A School Board facilities committee has determined Greenfield Middle School has room for new fields, but agreed it will come down to money, School Board President Pam Sierzchulski said.

A lot of the money raised from the Chapman sale will be used for repairs and improvements to the middle school, as well as some of the elementary schools, Sierzchulski said. But there will be a priority list on what gets done.

Another option is Kulwicki Park, 10777 W. Cold Spring Road. The city has worked with Milwaukee County on getting block-grant funding to install lights on those fields to help offset the loss of the Chapman fields, Neitzke said.

The Chapman fields could still be used again this summer depending on the outcome of the sale of the property.

Baseball fields aren't the only thing that needs to be moved.

The city's Parks and Recreation Department will move its programs held at Chapman to other school district facilities. The building also serves as its neighborhood's polling place, which will be moved to the new Greenfield Community Center, in the old library at 7215 W. Cold Spring Road.

The district is working with the city so that it can completely shut down the building down by March 1, Farner said.

New school smell

On the other end of the move, school officials are settling in nicely.

The new administration building is attached to northwest corner of Greenfield High School at 4850 S. 60th St. Last week was administrators' first full week in their new digs. The first School Board meeting there was held Monday.

The 12,000 square-foot-space is much smaller than the old building's size of 25,575 square feet. School officials have said the new facility is more efficient in terms of energy costs and its location..